Map of Romania by Numbers of Evangelicals per County

The evangelical church numbers approximately 2.6% of the total population of Romania. Communism fell in 1989 and Romania is a free, democratic country, but the church continues to battle with secularism, materialism, atheism and many other competing world views.  In addition, the national Orthodox church has typically fought against the evangelical church in it’s efforts to evangelize and impact their communities.

The Evangelical Church in Romania

The evangelical churches in Romania are committed to God’s word as Truth and are typically very aware of the importance of evangelism.  As you can see in the map, Romania has very few evangelical believers as compared to a place like Lancaster.  In Gabriela’s hometown, Galati, less than 1% of the people attend evangelical churches.

Most of the evangelical churches are either Pentecostal, Baptist, or Brethren.  There are some Seventh-Day Adventist churches as well.  Some of the churches have done well since the Communist Era, others have struggled to find their voice amidst all the other world-views that are competing for the hearts and minds of the people.

One of the biggest challenges for the churches in Romania is the phenomenon called the “Romanian Diaspora.”  Millions of Romanians have left their country to find better jobs in Western Europe, North America, and Australia.  The population has shrunk from about 23.5 million to approximately 19.5 million.  In Gabriela’s home church in Galati, nearly two hundred people have left in the past 15 years or so.  The church has replaced them and still maintains a healthy attendance level of about 200 people.

The Orthodox Church in Romania is very strong and most Romanians consider themselves Orthodox by birth.  Even though these churches don’t preach a strong gospel message, it isn’t that unusual to hear a Romania say, “I was born Orthodox, and I’m going to die Orthodox.”